THESE TWO DON'T HAVE THE BEST SURVIVAL INSTINCTS; I DON'T THINK THEY WOULD REALLY LAST IN THE OPEN AIR, SO I THINK I WOULD HAVE TO DITCH THEM. - BENJAMIN CURTIS

Whether living together, baring their identical tattoos or totally unnerved by the Echo and Bunnymen on daily repeat, the School of Seven Bells bond effortlessly hangs off them; as if recording and touring together comes naturally. Even their Disconnect From Desire sophomore return is in cruise mode, surpassing expectations and notching a many thumbs up, without any back lashing retorts as of yet.

Hang on, that’s not fair, being in a band surely can’t be that easy. Before we declare kudos to the Brooklyn three, SUPERSWEET returns to discover if their irksome confidence is in fact racked with insecurities or if they’d really stick it out together in the end…

Kindly put, the blunt tongued producer and guitarist Benjamin Curtis mocks the limit of SVIIB’s bond when faced with the apocalypse “These two don’t have the best survival instincts; I don’t think they would really last in the open air very long, so I think I would have to ditch them.”

Though songwriter and lead vocalist, Alejandra Deheza lightheartedly admits “I think I’d probably try and get everyone I really liked together and form some kind of plan with them…he [Benjamin] wouldn’t be in our group of people,” while her twin and keyboard whiz Claudia remarks in a deadpan flutter, “I’d hide…I don’t wanna suffer, I’m the person watching a horror movie to go, “Why don’t you kill yourself? Why do want to be hacked to death?””

Fighting to materialize into some kind of witty limerick, their contradictory confessions that they are a loner, a social fighter or suicidal in an extreme scenario, only highlights further their strikingly different contributions to the band. While School of Seven Bells boldly wears their mythical pick pocketing name well, from their My Bloody Valentine influences within ‘Bye Bye Bye’ to the intertwined passion to score a David Lynch film, the differences again collide. Alejandra points to Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man, the harrowing tale of a character William Blake and his deterioration in society, a film perfect to represent Disconnect From Desire’s fantastical paving within the personal. Yet, Benjamin’s view of their record lets listeners understand a ethereal perspective, “Wings of Desire is so beautiful, it’s just people thinking and having these personal moments, as the angel looks over the shoulder listening. I thought that would be perfect film for our record.”

Albeit clichéd, their ‘opposites attract’ quality is pointed out by lyricist Alejandra, in connection to the “Oblique Strategies” themed title Disconnect From Desire “It’s pretty much a feel for the entire album. It’s not like I sat down and was like “how can I write a lyric about Disconnect From Desire”. That’s how it works with us creatively; it’s a lot of different ideas that are pretty much going in the same direction, and happening at once, it kind of a really cool phenomenon that happens with us.” Ah it’s all making sense now…

Team SVIIB feeds its direction, thankfully in part to the perfectionist “probably too OCD” nut Benjamin, who produced the record, by berating his worries to Alejandra throughout recording, “I’d call up Alejandra: “I don’t know if this is any good, is this any good?”” Yet even with their extensive touring schedule and playing newbies ‘I L U’, ‘Heart is Strange’, ‘Bye Bye Bye’, ‘Camerillo’ - where the band could hammer out any whining problems - Benjamin asserts how it’s sheer self-assurance has kept them going “I think the biggest impact wasn’t really playing it live, it was being more confident to lay down the ideas that were there. Before it was a struggle because we were learning about how to make a record; it was struggle to get the idea out of here and into the speakers and now it’s really easy.”

WHEN YOU ARE CLOSE TO SOMEBODY AND THEN THEY ARE WRITING THINGS LIKE THAT, ALL YOU CAN SAY IS "I'M SORRY." - BENJAMIN CURTIS

Dominating their live set, Disconnect From Desire is the front-runner to SVIIB pop direction, and they couldn’t be more proud “It’s something we’ve always kinda had with us in our blood” Alejandra tells us, “When we first started going out in clubs, hearing really great pop music, like New Order, it was a conscious decision for me to do something like that.” Treading the pop-path surely could have risky route with only a debut to their credit, but Benjamin humbly notes his diversion tactics with Full Time Hobby: “We kinda had to talk a lot of shit to keep them off our backs: “We’re gonna make a really great album, don’t worry about it, you’ll be fine with our record, just don’t call us or ask to hear it.” No one heard it before it was mixed.”

The baring of toothy grins all round at their recent Scala show, including session drummer, Guy Licata (Cold Cave, Bill Laswell, Drummers Collective) mirror the sausage-fest crowd lapping up their London return, with cries out particularly when ‘Windstorm' resonates the stage. Laughing that it’s in no way a dream of apocalyptic nightmare, lyricist Alejandra discloses how the nature-driven ‘Windstorm’ is “basically talking about how important it is being the calm in the chaos of the situation. If the situation is going crazy on you, you just have to find out any way you can to be stable in it, otherwise you are not going to see what’s in front of you, get caught up and let this storm take you somewhere else where you’re not supposed to be.” The song’s apparent parallel to the band’s evolution, she remarks “I just think, in a way, we evolved, to deal with things with more directly, trying not to think too much about tomorrow or what happened the day before because if you do that you’ll go crazy.”

The empowered ‘Windstorm’ joins the personal theme weaved throughout the record, particularly the Scala-crowd pleaser ‘I L U’. “I guess it was really personal to me,” Alejandra leads. “I wanted to write something that was very relatable, obviously an experience that everyone has had, [but] it was also a very personal experience for me that was happening. In very simple ways, we are all the same, so it would be a stretch to write something personal that wouldn’t be to somebody else.” In agreement of the surprising intensity of the record, Benjamin continues: “When you are close to somebody and then they are writing things like that, it’s hard – all you can say is, “You sound really sad, I’m sorry.” We decided early on we wanted to make a pretty direct and emotional record, so I think maybe we didn’t quite know what we were in for.”

WHEN WE FIRST STARTED GOING OUT IN CLUBS, HEARING REALLY GREAT POP MUSIC, LIKE NEW ORDER, IT WAS A CONSCIOUS DECISION FOR ME TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT. - ALEJANDRA DEHEZA